He's written in detail (with many revisions) about why he doesn't accept donations...since 2014, actually (and versioned those on GitHub too).
The latest version from April 2022 [1] says:
> I do not want the administrative workload that comes with donations. I do not want the project to become in need of funding in any way: no dedicated home page + no forum = no cost = no need for financial support. I want to be free to move on to something else if ever I get tired of working on these projects (no donations = no expectations).
> Have a thought for the maintainers of the various lists. These lists are everything. I can not emphasize this enough.
The oldest version from July 2014 [2] says:
> A couple of reasons, each on its own is enough for me to not want donations.
> First reason is a mix of practicality and because of who I am.
> If I were to accept donations, because of who I am, I would be unable to not disclose exactly what is going on with these donations: revenues, withdrawals (for what purpose), etc. Because these would be funds donated with the expectations to help, I would want to disclose everything related to these donations, so people who have given know how their donations are used for this project. That's just who I am, I wouldn't be able to do otherwise. Thing is, I don't want to deal with all this administrative work I would bring to myself if I were to accept donations. I just want to code.
> Second reason, to ensure the main purpose of these projects is protected.
> If I were to accept donations, then in my opinion, the projects (µBlock, HTTP Switchboard) would start a slow descent toward becoming dependent on outside funding, a slow descent toward a mean to earn funds, and this drift eventually leads to the projects' main purpose becoming vulnerable to other agendas. In my opinion. There are excellent open source projects out there which accept donations and are not compromised. Some others are in my opinion. So, as it is, I don't want these projects to have a dedicated home page (requires funding), a forum (requires funding), or whatever requires funding. No financial footprint means no way the main purpose can be preempted (µBlock, HTTP Switchboard are GPLv3). It bothers me Firefox decided to go along with HTML5 DRM.
Honestly this just makes me wanna tip them even more. Even if it's a Hallmark card with a handwritten "thanks, no strings attached" with beer money. But I respect that ability to walk away guilt-free. It's a magical thing.
Totally agree. The value that ad blockers (especially uBlock Origin) have given in terms of user experience is immeasurable. It's a stark difference evoking anger as well as sympathy when looking at someone else's default (Chrome, usually) browser not having an ad blocker.
The latest version from April 2022 [1] says:
> I do not want the administrative workload that comes with donations. I do not want the project to become in need of funding in any way: no dedicated home page + no forum = no cost = no need for financial support. I want to be free to move on to something else if ever I get tired of working on these projects (no donations = no expectations).
> Have a thought for the maintainers of the various lists. These lists are everything. I can not emphasize this enough.
The oldest version from July 2014 [2] says:
> A couple of reasons, each on its own is enough for me to not want donations.
> First reason is a mix of practicality and because of who I am.
> If I were to accept donations, because of who I am, I would be unable to not disclose exactly what is going on with these donations: revenues, withdrawals (for what purpose), etc. Because these would be funds donated with the expectations to help, I would want to disclose everything related to these donations, so people who have given know how their donations are used for this project. That's just who I am, I wouldn't be able to do otherwise. Thing is, I don't want to deal with all this administrative work I would bring to myself if I were to accept donations. I just want to code.
> Second reason, to ensure the main purpose of these projects is protected.
> If I were to accept donations, then in my opinion, the projects (µBlock, HTTP Switchboard) would start a slow descent toward becoming dependent on outside funding, a slow descent toward a mean to earn funds, and this drift eventually leads to the projects' main purpose becoming vulnerable to other agendas. In my opinion. There are excellent open source projects out there which accept donations and are not compromised. Some others are in my opinion. So, as it is, I don't want these projects to have a dedicated home page (requires funding), a forum (requires funding), or whatever requires funding. No financial footprint means no way the main purpose can be preempted (µBlock, HTTP Switchboard are GPLv3). It bothers me Firefox decided to go along with HTML5 DRM.
[1]: https://github.com/gorhill/uBlock/wiki/Why-don't-you-accept-...
[2]: https://github.com/gorhill/uBlock/wiki/Why-don't-you-accept-...